I've often wondered about taking the train to an overseas conference rather than flying but it's always seemed a bit inconvenient / expensive. However this year the International Symposium on Earthworm Ecology is in Rennes, France and not only was there not a direct flight from Manchester, the flight I'd have had to get would have involved a 4 a.m. start whereas the train left York at 0858 and I could be there in a day. No contest.
So it was off to the station, leaving home at c. 0830 right on time (this is a GCSE English technique known as foreshadowing) - a nice stress free cycle ride on a balmy Sunday morning
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| My initial transport - it left on time! |
And so to the station - never a good sign the London train before mine was delayed by more than 30 minutes (it was broken) and mine was already 10 minutes late.
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| 10 minutes late and counting. |
The earlier train was cancelled and everyone from that train piled into ours which was now going to make additional stops. I'm not sure that's ever happened to me on a plane!
Luckily I had plenty of time - I was due in to Kings Cross at 1052 and my Eurostar to Paris didn't leave until 1230. I kept on chanting this as my train rolled into Kings Cross at 1130
It didn't take long to get over to St Pancras and by 1145 I was waiting to be allowed to start queuing!
At 1200 we were allowed to start queuing. The queue was rather long.
Somewhere in the distance the queue turns the corner to the check in, we've already made it from the other entrance to here.
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| Getting closer - just the multiple snakes to go. |
To be fair to Eurostar the queue moved like the clappers and I was in departures by 1220 - not that my 1230 train was boarding yet....
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| First stamp in the new passport. |
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| But we're not going anywhere yet |
There was a horrible sense of deja vu - the earlier train still hadn't left and was now over 30 minutes late....
However, it did board and we were soon away as well - only 10 minutes late (again!).
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| And we're off - next stop Paris. |
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| Out with the train journey reading - what else are long train journeys for? |
The train was barely late arriving in Paris and I had an hour and a half for a simple metro journey on Line 4 to get from Gare du Nord to Monparnasse.
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| Whoops - the metro is closed |
Luckily Frank Ashwood had tweeted just before I arrived in Paris that Line 4 was closed - though why the University travel agents, who took over 3 weeks to provide my train tickets couldn't have warned me that on Sunday's Line 4 has been closed for some time is beyond me - very unimpressive. Anyway I was pleased that I'd opted for the longer change over time and got to Monparnasse (via Lines 2 and 6 I think) with 15 minutes to spare.
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| Just waiting for a platform number. |
Soon I was on the train (which left on time) and other than the very loud 3 year old opposite all was well.
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| Journeys end |
And so here I was. I left York at about 0915 and arrived in Rennes for 1909 at about 0.01 rather than 1.29 metric tonnes of C. I'm not good on those sorts of units. According to Google 1.29 metric tonnes of C is equivalent to about the C footprint of a medium sized pig - so I guess I can eat lots of sausages whilst in France with a clear conscience! Perhaps I'll use the homeward journey saving for some steak.
I'd probably do it again, the late running trains were stressy but the St Pancras queue was very efficient and it was generally a fairly relaxed journey. It was avoiding the 4 a.m. start that sold it though.
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| There must be a reason for the horse and shadow sculpture outside Rennes train station but I'm not sure what message they are trying to give visitors. However finishing with a shadow gives an element of another key English GCSE point scorer. |
